"A photo exhibit at the National Museum of Health and Medicine has all the blood and gore you might expect from a show entitled "Battlefield Surgery 101: From Civil War to Vietnam." But most of the more than 100 photos disguise the blood to some degree: Until the exhibit reaches the Korean War, all the images are black and white. Michael Rhode, chief archivist at the museum, said some of the photos deal with subjects as peaceful as sunlight gleaming off stainless steel in an operating room. Other shots, like that of the amputation of a soldier's foot after a mine explosion during the Vietnam War, capture more intense moments. Most of the photos in the free exhibit, which aims to show visitors how much has changed -- and how much hasn't -- in battlefield surgeries over the years, were taken by the U.S. Army Signal Corps. Others were snapped by military doctors and soldiers. A few were taken last year in Iraq. Adrianne Noe, director of the museum, said some soldiers who have returned from Iraq for care at Walter Reed Army Medical Center have visited the exhibit. The National Museum of Health and Medicine, on the Walter Reed Army Medical Center campus, 6900 Georgia Ave. NW, is open 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. every day. To learn more, call 202-782-2200 or see www.nmhm.washingtondc.museum."
-- Washington Post, March 16, 2004
"NOVA's "Life and Death in the War Zone" documents the days and nights of the doctors, surgeons, and military staff of the 21st Combat Support Hospital in Iraq. The film follows the daily drama of life and death in a tented hospital in the deserts north of Baghdad. Building a state-of-the-art hospital in the dust and heat is a remarkable achievement, but it represents only the start of the difficulties faced by the doctors and nurses of the 21st CSH. Relief at the lack of military casualties is soon replaced by high drama and difficult ethical decisions as Iraqi victims arrive, many of them children with horrific injuries caused by unexploded weapons. NOVA shows how innovations in battlefield medicine have transformed the survival prospects of such casualties, and provides an intimate story of the struggle for survival in a combat hospital. Dr. Dave Lounsbury, physician and colonel at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center, will be online Wednesday, March 3 at 11 a.m. ET to discuss the PBS NOVA special. Dr. Lounsbury is a physician and colonel in the U.S. Army Medical Corps who teaches and treats patients at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. He also serves as editor of the Army Medical Department's Textbooks of Military Medicine series. Silver Spring, Md.: An exhibit on display at the National Museum of Health and Medicine had some photos taken of soldiers who were injured in Iraq and treated at Walter Reed. I also saw the new computerized prosthetic leg there. Were you involved with this exhibit? Dr. Dave Lounsbury: The Borden Institute collaborated with the National Museum of Health and Medicine in producing this exhibit. That exhibit provides a photographic history of military surgery from the Civil War to the present conflict."
-washingtonpost.com Live Online, March 3, 2004
"Silver Spring, Md.: An exhibit on display at the National Museum of Health and Medicine had some photos taken of soldiers who were injured in Iraq and treated at Walter Reed. I also saw the new computerized prosthetic leg there. Were you involved with this exhibit? Dr. Dave Lounsbury: The Borden Institute collaborated with the National Museum of Health and Medicine in producing this exhibit. That exhibit provides a photographic history of military surgery from the Civil War to the present conflict."
-washingtonpost.com, 11:00 a.m. ET, March 3, 2004
"Battlefield Surgery 101: From the Civil War to Vietnam. National Museum of Health and Medicine, Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Washington DC, USA. Running indefinitely. www.nmhm.washingtondc.museum. Catalogue available from National Museum of Health and Medicine, $25.00. A soldier falls wounded on the battlefield; a cry for help rings out: "Medic!" So began the traditional first steps in US battlefield medical care. In the 140 years since the US Civil War, wounds and their treatment have become more complex, but the principle of multilevel care for battlefield injuries remains the same. Developed by US Civil War General Jonathan Letterman in August, 1862, this system uses progressive treatment stages, based on doing what must be done immediately, then evacuating casualties to facilities that are increasingly better equipped and farther away from battle. The imperative is to keep to a minimum the time between wounding and treatment. Despite its title, this photographic exhibition includes the wars in the Gulf, Afghanistan, and Iraq, and the curators will update displays as the Iraq conflict continues. As well as being a gruesome guided tour along an idealised route of care, these photographs have a sombre message. New medicines and sophisticated surgical techniques are not able to prevent ever more effective weapons from doing their job. War still means death and serious injury. More combat troops are saved by protective gear than by medical care. For the lucky few who do survive the initial hit, the first medical aid they receive will probably come from a combat medic trained in basic emergency care. Most battlefield wounds are caused by penetrating and blast sources such as bullets, shrapnel, landmines, and bombs. Rapid-firing assault rifles and modern explosive devices have caused wounds to become more severe and more numerous per soldier. Multiple casualties in dangerous conditions leave little time to save lives. Amid flying bullets and exploding bombs, the medic must focus on the main cause of battlefield death--uncontrolled bleeding. Military data suggest that 70% of combat fatalities occur in the first 5 minutes of injury. The golden hour of civilian medicine is thus reduced to a golden 5 minutes. No wonder, then, that a typical US medic's kit from the Vietnam era contained only a simple inventory: bandages, dressings, antibiotic ointment, a tourniquet, morphine, and little else. In the most recent Iraq war, an innovation was added: a granulated mineral haemostatic agent that can be packed into a wound to induce rapid coagulation. The battlefield managed-care plan has evolved with technological advances. In all wars, evacuation from the battlefield, by stretcher, occurs as soon as possible. Before the 1991 Gulf War, the wounded went first to a temporary shelter where intravenous fluids and anti-infection measures could be administered. Then, via ambulance (World War I, World War II, and Korea) or helicopter (Korea and Vietnam), they were removed to the nearest Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH), equipped with operating rooms and up to 60 beds. Triage followed categories first delineated in 1854 during the Crimean War by the Russian military surgeon Nikolai Ivanovich Pirogov: immediate care, typically for haemorrhaging, chest or abdominal wounds, and amputations; delayed care, for those not in immediate danger of dying; non-urgent care; and comfort, for those beyond help. Today called "expectant", in Pirogov's parlance this last category of patients was "for the priest". After triage and emergency surgery, casualties went to a field hospital with about 300 beds, operating theatres, subspecialty surgeons, and radiological and laboratory facilities. Next, for complex treatment, they would be transported to a central military hospital, such as the one in Landstuhl, Germany. Since the Gulf War, continuum-of-care stages have been condensed, with air transport ferrying the wounded straight from the battlesite to the military hospital. These post-1990 conflicts have no traditionally delineated battlefield; soldiers are often scattered and thus a combat medic is often unavailable in the critical first 5 minutes. With armoured vests that reduce chest wounds and coagulants that stem bleeding, soldiers now survive blasts that would have killed them in the past, but incur severe extremity injuries. Amputation remains a common consequence of war. A display of prostheses highlights the advances made from an 1860s wooden leg to a modern steel rod and knee joint equipped with microprocessors to adjust for walking, running, and climbing. Military medicine can now save all but 2-3% of those admitted to treatment facilities, compared with 12% in the US Civil War, 8% in World War I, and 3*2-6*5% in World War II. But 85-90% of all combat deaths occur before any medical help can reach the wounded. Thus the USA's carefully organised medical scheme actually helps only a small minority of casualties. No matter how sophisticated the medical care, it cannot prevent the consequences of war: death and lasting injury."
-The Lancet, February 21, 2004
"The National Museum of Health and Medicine has opened its newest exhibit, "Battlefield Surgery 101: From the Civil War to Vietnam." It will run indefinitely. Drawn exclusively from the museum's historical archives and historical collections, Battlefield Surgery 101 presents the highlights of the evolution of military surgical activities over the last 140 years through a selection of photographs and 19th- and 20th- century artifacts. The exhibit examines how the military operating room has evolved over time and changed with technological advances, and also illustrates the challenges faced by the men and women who worked there..."
-The Voice, Reserve Enlisted Association, February 2004
"Patching Up On The Battlefield. This 1950s photograph of a surgery during the Korean War is just one of the 100 images documenting wartime medicine in the new exhibit "Battlefield Surgery 101: From the Civil War to Vietnam" at the National Museum of Health and Medicine in Washington, D.C. The collection illustrates the advances physicians and other medical personnel have made in wars during the past 150 years, but also focuses on the hardships of performing surgery outside of a modern hospital - the physicians pictured are working inside a bunker with little light. The museum is part of the U.S. military's Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, and its curators have included in the exhibit medical items soldiers are using in Afghanistan and Iraq. "Battlefield Surgery" opened in November 2003 and will run indefinitely."
-The New Physician, January - February 2004
"Battlefield Surgery 101: From the Civil War to Vietnam: Drawn
exclusively from the museum's historical archives and historical
collections, the National Museum of Health and Medicine highlight the
evolution of military surgical activities over the last 140 years
through a selection of photographs and 19th- and 20th- century
artifacts."
-DC Update, January/February 2004
"Battlefield Surgery 101: From the Civil War to Vietnam: Drawn exclusively from the museum's historical archives and historical collections, the National Museum of Health and Medicine highlight(s) the evolution of military surgical activities over the last 140 years through a selection of photographs and 19th- and 20th- century artifacts..."
-Washington Business Journal, January 9, 2004
"Battlefield Surgery 101: From the Civil War to Vietnam. Exhibit presents the highlights of the evolution of military surgical activities over the last 140 years through a selection of photographs and 19th- and 20th- century artifacts. It also examines how the military operating room has evolved over time and changed with technological advances, and illustrates the challenges faced by the men and women who worked there. Running indefinitely at the National Museum of Health and Medicine..."
-Baltimore Sun, January 1, 2004
"The National Museum of Health and Medicine has opened its newest exhibit, "Battlefield Surgery 101: From the Civil War to Vietnam." It will run indefinitely...Open every day except Dec. 25 from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., the museum is located at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, 6900 Georgia Ave. and Elder Street, NW, Washington, D.C. The web site is nmhm.washingtondc.museum and the telephone number is 202-782-2200. Admission and parking are free."
-Washington Sun, January 1, 2004
"From the blood-soaked farm fields of the American Civil War to the perilous roads of Iraq, for many soldiers life or death has been decided under a tent surrounded by battlefield surgeons. A new exhibit at the National Museum of Health and Medicine shows how battlefield surgery has both changed and remained much the same during the past 140 years. The museum itself was a product of the Civil War, as Army surgeon general Dr. William Hammond ordered that photographs of patients and procedures, as well as bullets and preserved bone and tissue samples, be collected to help evaluate and educate future battlefield doctors. Today, the museum is part of the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology located on the campus of Walter Reed Army Medical Center. It holds one of the world's largest repositories of medical artifacts. Central to the exhibit, on display indefinitely, is a collection of more than 100 photographs culled from a collection of tens of thousands depicting medics, forward aid stations and military hospitals in action. "There was no criterion in selecting the photos other than that it was an arresting image that helps tell the story of military surgery," said Mike Rhode, archivist of the museum's historical archives. "The best photos are very gripping." Despite their documentary nature, most of the photos in "Battlefield Surgery 101: From the Civil War to Vietnam" are relatively bloodless, but there are some jarring color images of a lacerated liver and a leg destroyed by a mine. "We are a medical museum and we can display things that others can't," said Jim Connor, the assistant director of collections and co-curator of the display with Rhode. "The Smithsonian can't present the things that we do, and we believe this exhibit will help the public understand the challenges faced by those in harm's way and by those who care for them." Although the survivors of battles have always tried to give comfort to wounded comrades, Connor said organized care for the wounded didn't begin until the Civil War. Although today's medevac helicopters and armored vans are more sophisticated than the horse-drawn covered wagons of that era, the organization of battlefield medicine was much the same from Chancellorsville to Khe San. "As you walk around the room and look at the photographs of stretchers over the years, you notice they're basically unchanged since the Civil War," Connor said. "If it ain't broke, they don't try to fix it." The display _ along with other long-term exhibits specific to Civil War and Korean War medicine _ also dispels some of the popular myths about battlefield operations. For instance, ether, not biting of bullets or massive doses of whiskey, was the common form of anesthetic for both the Union and Confederate armies and later. "If anything, the method of holding a cloth over the patient's mouth and nose and dousing it with ether produced huge overdoses," Connor said. "The only thing that kept more wounded men from being killed from the anesthetic was that the operations were being done in the open air." Hammond set up the system of treatment that's still largely followed today: remove the wounded from the front line to aid stations, then back to hospitals and eventually convalescent facilities. World War I saw the first use of triage _ the prioritizing of care according to the severity of wounds, and World War II produced the first well-trained corpsmen and medics who stayed with the troops and provided first aid. As one panel of the exhibit explains, while almost all battlefield deaths occur within the first hour of a wound, 70 percent occur in the first five minutes. Civilian trauma surgeons talk about a "golden hour" as the window for saving the life of a patient injured in a car accident or even a shooting. But combat wounds are often so much more massive that military surgeons talk about a "golden five minutes" for initiating treatment. Since Korea and Vietnam, about 98 percent of the wounded who reach a hospital within the first hour of a wound survive. That's why many of the wounded in Iraq are now airlifted directly to a military hospital, bypassing forward aid stations. One major innovation that is helping stem death from blood loss among the wounded in Iraq is a granulated mineral substance called QuikClot that helps stop bleeding from a wound by absorbing water from the blood. A pouch of the material is included among a display of 20th century bandages in the exhibit. But there are some unfortunate echoes of the past in the current war, too. While better vehicle and body armor is increasing survival odds for troops in Iraq, the steady stream of assaults using bombs and mines has also produced more military amputees than any conflict since Vietnam. The museum includes a substantial collection of prostheses _ artificial limbs _ dating from the Civil War, when the Union Army alone had more than 50,000 amputees. A wall display of several prosthetic legs _ including two homemade devices made by American POWs during WWII _ is included in the exhibit. "We've had people involved in the design of limbs today come by recently to look at some of the 19th century technology and take photos and do drawings," Connor said. "There's one with a foot that's sort of modeled after a rocking chair rocker that seems to have done a pretty good job mimicking the ball of the foot." The exhibit's displays also include a video the medical use of the helicopter, medical kits and other devices used by American forces and their opponents. The museum is open daily - except Christmas - from 10 a.m. until 5:30 p.m. Admission and parking are free. Because it is located on a military post, security screening is somewhat more involved than at most other museums around the capital. For details before visiting call 202-782-2200 or visit the Web site at www.nmhm.washingtondc.museum."
-- Scripps Howard News Service, December 23, 2003
"Wars often produce advances in medicine and the Army Medical Museum was one product of the Civil War. Dr. William Hammond, the surgeon general during the Civil War founded the museum, now known as the National Museum of Health and Medicine, to gather lessons on battlefield surgery as the French and British did after the Crimean War, according to Chief Archivist Michael Rhode. The museum has opened a new exhibit at their Walter Reed Army Medical Center location entitled, "Battlefield Surgery 101: from the Civil War to Vietnam." The display includes photos and medical artifacts from the Civil War, the Russo-Japanese War, both World Wars, Korea and Vietnam. Jim Connor, assistant director of collections, said Vietnam was where the museum's photo collection ended. The first photo is a staged one from the Civil War showing a surgeon operating outside on a patient. Connor said the Civil War was where organized care for wounded Soldiers first began. Wounded Soldiers were removed from the battlefield and taken to aid stations and then on to hospitals, in much the same manner as today. The only differences are the medical knowledge and technology.
"We picked the photographs on display because they cover roughly 100 years of military surgery, as well as illustrate interesting components of military medicine over that timeframe," Rhode said. "The images, all of which are accompanied by their original captions, document the medical advances that have so greatly decreased mortality in warfare." The Civil War pictures show doctors administering chloroform and using wooden handled instruments. A large photo from the Russo-Japanese War, of Japanese doctors and nurses preparing to amputate a leg, shows some of the medical advances in thirty years. The floors and walls are smooth to be more easily disinfected. The chloroform is the same, but the instruments are glass and steel and an instrument sanitizer is nearby. There are even a few jarring color photos such as a lacerated liver and a leg blown off by a mine. "We can display things that other museums can't," Connor said. "The Smithsonian couldn't do what we have done." The photos also depict the history of radiology. There photos of X-ray machines from the Turkish-Bulgarian War and portable units from World War I. One World War I era photo shows a technician using an early X-ray tube on a patient in a crowded ward and no lead aprons or other safety devices. "The early X-ray technicians started losing fingers and hands," Connor said. "Early radiation pioneers had extreme radiation burns." A large photo shows Korean War nurses in action in an operating room. Korea was the first time nurses earned full pay, full rank and full authority according to Connor. The picture depicts a patient receiving gas, but on the floor is a can of chloroform as a back up. The display will contain a do-it-yourself leg prosthetic made in a Japanese prison camp with Bataan scratched on it. The exhibit will run indefinitely and is only a fraction of the exhibit space in the main galleries. The National Museum of Health and Medicine is not on the mall, but it is still worth a special trip to Northwest Washington."
Pentagram, December 5, 2003
"This photo is from the National Museum of Health and Medicine's new exhibit, "Battlefield Surgery 101: From the Civil War to Vietnam." The stunning and at times graphic collection of photographs will allow visitors to compare military medical care during different wars."
-- Prince George's Md. Post, November 26, 2003
"A mineral powder that stops wounds from hemorrhaging. A bandage made of shrimp shells that seals cuts. Miniaturized ultrasound machines for instant diagnosis. These and other medical inventions being used on battlefields in Iraq and Afghanistan no doubt will be available in coming years in an ambulance or emergency room near you. They will join innovations from previous wars, such as anti-malarial drugs and various antibiotics, that we have come to take for granted...QuikClot is on display along with other artifacts from 20th- and 21st-century military conflicts in an exhibit open to the public at the National Museum of Health and Medicine at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, 6900 Georgia Ave. at Elder Street NW."
-- Washington Times, November 20, 2003
"This exhibit explains the evolution of the military operating room and the challenges the men and women who work there face. Drawn from the museum's extensive holdings, Battlefield Surgery 101 examines the breadth and depth of military surgical activities.
* Daily, 10 am - 5:30 pm
* Free
* Walter Reed Army Medical Center, 6900 Georgia Avenue, NW (at Elder Street), Washington, DC
* 202-782-2200
* Metro: Silver Spring to Metrobus 70 or 71 or Takoma Park to Metrobus 52, 53 or 54"
-America Celebrates the Greatest Generation, November 2003
"The National Museum of Health and Medicine's new exhibit of just over 100 photographs and accompanying objects spans about 100 years from the Civil War to Vietnam and deals with surgery on or near the battlefield. It reveals the evolution of the military operating room and the challenges of the men and women who work there. Drawn exclusively from the extensive holdings of the National Museum of Health and Medicine of the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, "Battlefield Surgery 101" examines the breadth and depth of military surgical activities. Many of these images and films are being displayed for the first time. In selecting photographs, the exhibit's curators present realistic perspectives of the danger and challenges facing both fighting soldiers and the men and women whose duty it is care for them when they are in harm's way. Artifacts that range from medic's supplies and kits that span the twentieth century, prosthetic limbs, and surgical equipment enhance the exhibit. The exhibit is scheduled to open in mid-October 2003 and run indefinitely. For more information, please call 202-782-2200 or visit the museum at www.washingtondc.museum."
-The Association of Military Surgeons of the United States Newsletter, Fall 2003
"Late November, National Museum of Health and Medicine
will be opening a new exhibit; Battlefield Surgery 101: From the Civil War to Vietnam.
Drawn exclusively from the museum's historical archives and historical collections, "Battlefield Surgery 101" presents the highlights of the evolution of military surgical activities over the last 140 years through a selection of photographs and 19th- and 20th- century artifacts.The exhibit examines how the military operating room has evolved over time and changed with technological advances, and also illustrates the challenges faced by the men and women who worked there.
Open every day except Dec. 25, from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., the museum is located at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, 6900 Georgia Ave. and Elder Street, NW, Washington, D.C. The web site is: www.nmhm.washingtondc.museum."
-Medical Museums Association, December 2003
"The National Museum of Health and Medicine, a national historic landmark, is on Walter Reed's main campus. The museum, founded in 1862 to study and improve medical conditions during the American Civil War, is an element of the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology. It's open every day from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. except Dec. 25. The web site is www.natmedmuse.afip.org and the telephone number is 202-782-2200. Admission is free. The museum is opening a next exhibit this month. "Battlefield Surgery 101: From the Civil War to Vietnam," will run indefinitely. Drawn exclusively from the museum's historical archives and collections, "Battlefield Surgery 101" presents the highlights of the evolution of military surgical activities over the last 140 years through a selection of photographs and 19th- and 20th-century artifacts. The exhibit examines how the military operating room has evolved over time and changed with technological advances and also illustrates the challenges faced by the men and women who worked there."
-Stripe, November 21, 2003
"Drawn exclusively from the museum's historical archives and historical collections, Battlefield Surgery 101 presents the highlights of the evolution of military surgical activities over the last 140 years through a selection of photographs and 19th- and 20th- century artifacts. The exhibit examines how the military operating room has evolved over time and changed with technological advances, and also illustrates the challenges faced by the men and women who worked there. In addition to being a scientific and medical institution, the National Museum of Health and Medicine has its strongest connection to the military," said Adrianne Noe, Ph.D., the museum's director. "The exhibit, Battlefield Surgery 101 really informs that connection, at the same time that it reveals a part of the military battlefield experience that is not often appreciated elsewhere. It is an extremely timely exhibition, given our current military engagements."
-Cultural Tourism DC, November 15, 2003
"The National Museum of Health and Medicine is scheduled to open its newest exhibit, "Battlefield Surgery 101: From the Civil War to Vietnam," in late November. It will run indefinitely. The exhibit examines how the military operating room has evolved over time and changed with technological advances, and also illustrates the challenges faced by the men and women who worked there. Open every day except Dec. 25 from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., the museum is located at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, 6900 Georgia Ave. and Elder Street, NW, Washington, DC. The website is www.nmhm.washingtondc.museum and the telephone number is 202-782-2200. Admission and parking are free."
-The Army Historical Foundation, November 2003
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